City Hall

Lawrence Public Library selected for “Super Wi-Fi” pilot

The Lawrence Public Library has been selected as one of four Kansas libraries to participate in a futuristic wireless Internet pilot program with the national Gigabit Libraries Network.

For four months, participating libraries will test TV White Space technology or “Super Wi-Fi,” which delivers Internet bandwidth across the same frequency used on analog televisions.

Streaming Internet over TV White Space allows Wi-Fi access to be beamed further distances to remote locations. Director of the Lawrence Public Library Brad Allen said participating in the pilot project will give the library an opportunity to explore the possibilities.

“We’re always looking for ways to better serve our community,” Allen said. “We’re curious and excited to find out if this is the real deal.”

Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Kansas City, Kan., Public Library and Manhattan Public Library will also participate.

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Comments

But wasn't one of the biggest failures with FreeNet/Wicked that while the transmission antennas had ample transmission power, the average home WIFI or laptop DIDN'T have the needed power to transmit BACK to the FreeNet antenna? If the library's antenna can't receive a little signal coming from my home, then I don't have a connection, correct?

Someone correct me if this is wrong, but isn't this why FreeNet customers had so many issues?

The advantage is that is cuts through walls, trees, etc. The disadvantage is that it is low bandwidth and you can't run access points too close together.

I don't know what they are going to use this technology for (transmitting to rural Douglas County), but it sounds like an interesting experiment. They certainly aren't going to be getting a Gigabit of throughput out of it.

As for our WiFi network. OldEnuf2BYurDad hit the nail on the head. We currently require most of our members to have a high power modem or an external panel to access the network. We are pushing plenty of power and have excellent antennas and WiFi cards. The $10 USB WiFi stick some folks are trying to access our network with simply doesn't transmit with enough power to keep a reliable connection.

The technology works well when you have an external antenna professionally installed ($50), but can be spotty or non-existent if you are using a laptop or tablet.

This is one of the reasons we are moving to fiber ( http://www.wickedfiber.com ) Better reliability and throughput, but very, very expensive to install.

Not true. LTE networks operate on 700MHz and can push out +50Mbit/s easily, it just depends on how much of a carrier chunk you want to use. The more frequencies, the higher throughput. There are also efficiencies in place that allow thousands of cellphones to connect to these networks that run on low frequencies. TDMA was used for 2G and 3G, MIMO is a more popular method for increasing bandwidth in a pinch.

Unless you live on the car side of Vermont the library is not that far away. Take away the college population and more than 1/3 of the city is gone. The city goes further east than Mass so it may not be smack dab in the middle but its pretty close.

From the looks of it they will be using groundbreaking technology that may actually bring Internet access to low-income households in our community and beyond.

This has a large if not infinite potential for business, the poor, our schools, rural farmers and our local economy. This sounds like the work of some innovative thinkers ( I mean YOU! People of Kansas! )

Why don't you read for yourself instead of taking my word or others that feel threatened by this innovations words torwards it.